SAN NICOLAS ISLAND, Calif., Oct. 6 (UPI)

The U.S. Navy's networked Tomahawk Block IV cruise missile has demonstrated new capabilities in a special test conducted with missile-maker Raytheon. In the test, a missile was launched from the destroyer USS Gridley carrying a camera, and captured battle damage indication imagery and then transmitted the image to fleet headquarters with a two-way UHF SATCOM datalink. The missile then engaged in a loiter pattern to await further instructions. Strike controllers at the U.S. Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain retargeted the missile to a new aim point on a Navy range off the coast of California, which it successfully struck.

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Mar 13, 2015 defense-aerospace.com

 (Source: Defence24.com Poland; published March 12, 2015)

Polish MoD: “Orka Submarine Programme Funding to Be Realized This Year”

The Polish Ministry of Defence has confirmed that funds to purchase new submarines are already reserved, but it is during the 4th quarter of this year, when the Ministry is going to start the analyses of options, that they will be used to launch the acquisition process.

Information related to the submarines was been published as a response to a parliamentary question (no. 30891) submitted by MP Artur Górski “…regarding the plans of the Ministry of Defence related to acquisition of three submarines for Poland, armed with cruise missiles”.

The ministry’s reply is highly significant in that, for the first time, the Polish Ministry of Defence has officially released information regarding the Orka future submarine project.

 

Which issues have been clarified?

Thanks to the response to the intervention, we now know that:

• Minister of Defence accepted the request submitted by the administrator of military equipment, regarding the acquisition of new submarines for the Polish Armed Forces on 27th September 2012;
• In the confidential document entitled “Plan of Technical Modernization of the Polish Armed Forces”, the Ministry of Defence’s budgetary assets are ring-fenced. These funds will be used to acquire the new submarines in 2015.
• “ORKA” programme is a long-term plan, funding of which is to be stretched out over several years until 2024;
• The Polish Ministry of Defence wants to acquire the new type of submarines armed with cruise missiles;
• Due to the plans of introduction of the cruise missiles, MoD is going to carry out additional analyses and arrangements, along with complementation of documentation, which are all going to be the basis for starting up the procedures. Analyses are to begin in the 4th quarter of this year;
• Despite the additional analyses and arrangements regarding the cruise missiles, the schedule related to procurement of the new submarines remains unchanged. “The first two submarines are planned to be acquired by 2022, the third one is to be received later”;
•„ In February this year, “offset assumptions related to acquisition of the new ORKA submarines have been developed,” the ministry said. According to these assumptions, a maintenance centre for the new type of submarines is to be created in Poland. The actions necessary will be taken to create a national potential for maintenance of technical readiness of the acquired submarines i.e. for servicing and carrying out repairs;
• The new submarines will be capable of “transporting troops that are not their crew members”;
• Training bundles, regarding preparation of the crew-members for service on-board of the submarines shall be included in the signed contracts;
• “The Polish Ministry of Defence is not planning to create a new special forces unit capable of operating with submarines. Existing special forces units, i.e. the Formoza, already possess such capabilities. Formoza’s operators are capable of carrying out special operations in water environment.”
• After the new submarines are introduced into service, the special forces will be trained in submarine operations in varied conditions, in accordance with procedures and techniques which are used by the special forces”.

What is missing in the Ministry’s response to the intervention?

• No estimated value of the order has been indicated – this would, according to the Polish MoD, reduce the room for negotiation of the Ordering Party in the planned procedure;
• No response has been made related to fusion of both procedures (acquisition of the submarines along with the cruise missiles);
• No response has been provided to the question, whether the government made any efforts to construct the submarines in the Polish shipyards, at least partially.

MoD has changed its approach towards the deterrence policy

The Ministry of Defence has changed its approach to the issue of equipping the submarines with cruise missiles, stating that “currently the basic task of the Polish Armed Forces is to defend the Polish territory. The semantic area of this term also includes military deterrence which shall be realized by demonstrating the readiness to defend the country with the existing forces. The new submarines will fall within that category and task.”

There is one more question – why it took so long for the Ministry of Defence to realize the fact that the submarines may be armed with the cruise missiles. Supposedly, a similar question was asked by MP Ludwik Dorn, leading Deputy Minister Mroczek to respond “Better late than never”.

The issue is far too serious to make fun of it – it shall be clarified why the plans of arming the submarines with the cruise missiles were sabotaged. And response to that question shall not be left in the shadows.


(EDITOR’S NOTE: Reuters reported from Warsaw this morning that Polish Defence Minister Tomasz Siemoniak “has asked the United States whether the European nation could buy Tomahawk missiles for its new submarines.”
Reuters quoted Siemoniak as saying on public radio that “One of the capabilities we want them to have is cruise missiles,” and he confirmed in a Tweet (see above).
France is also competing to supply submarines to Poland, in which case they would be armed with MBDA’s Missile de Croisière Naval (MdCN) cruise missiles as well as sub-surface-launched SM-39 Exocet anti-ship missiles)

TUCSON, Ariz., Dec. 10, 2014 Raytheon

Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) received a $25.9 million U.S. Navy contract for Tomahawk missile Composite Capsule Launching Systems (C/CLS). Production and delivery of the systems will support submarine-launched Tomahawk Cruise missiles.

"Submarine and surface-launched Tomahawk missiles have been employed in more than 2,000 combat missions worldwide," said Roy Donelson, Raytheon Tomahawk senior program director. "Raytheon and the U.S. Navy are working together to give this proven missile even greater capability."

The new launching systems will be integrated into nuclear powered fast attack submarines and nuclear powered guided missile subs. The C/CLS provides for all mechanical and environmental interfaces between the missile and the submarine missile tube. Deliveries will begin in September 2015.

About Tomahawk Block IV
With a range of more than 1,000 miles the Tomahawk Block IV missile is a surface and submarine-launched precision strike stand-off weapon. Tomahawk is designed for long-range precision strike missions against high-value and heavily defended targets. Raytheon and the U.S. Navy are working to provide Tomahawk with even greater capability.

About Raytheon
Raytheon Company, with 2012 sales of $24 billion and 68,000 employees worldwide, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, security and civil markets throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning 91 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration and other capabilities in the areas of sensing; effects; and command, control, communications and intelligence systems; as well as a broad range of mission support services. Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham, Mass. For more about Raytheon, visit us at www.raytheon.com and follow us on Twitter @raytheon.

23 sept. 2014 US Navy

April 3, 2014. David Pugliese - Defence Watch

National Defence magazine is reporting this:

The Raytheon Co. is challenging the Navy’s decision to halt manufacturing of the Tomahawk cruise missile in 2016, and is counting on its congressional allies to help keep the weapon in production for the foreseeable future.

Executives will seek to make the case that the Tomahawk supplier base of more than 300 companies in 24 states would be weakened without new orders. If the production line — based in Tucson, Ariz. — is shut down, Raytheon officials contend, the Navy might not be able to restart it at a later time.

Before the Pentagon was hit with automatic budget cuts in 2013, the Navy had planned on buying about 200 Tomahawks per year for the next five years. In fiscal year 2015, the Navy proposed a reduced buy of 100 missiles and no new orders after 2016. The Navy still plans to design a new land-attack missile and upgrade the current inventory of Tomahawks with new electronics.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus defended the decision, as the United States already has an arsenal of 4,000 Tomahawks. “When you add the Tomahawks that we plan to buy in 2015, it will carry us through any eventuality that we could foresee,” he told the Senate Armed Services Committee. Studies will begin next year to design a follow-on weapon, he added. “We certainly don’t want, don’t need a gap between the Tomahawk and the next weapon.”

Full story here:

http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=1458

Nov 11, 2013 ASDNews Source : Naval Air Systems Command

The U.S. Navy marked a significant milestone Nov. 5, as the service joined defense contractor Raytheon Missile Systems in celebrating the delivery of the 3,000th Tactical Tomahawk (TACTOM) missile.

TACTOM, also known as Tomahawk Block IV, is a deep-strike, long-range cruise missile often used for land-attack warfare and employed from U.S. Navy surface combatants and U.S. Navy and United Kingdom Royal Navy submarines.

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WASHINGTON, 05 sept 2013 marine-oceans.com (AFP)

Le coût de possibles frappes militaires en Syrie ne devrait "pas être extraordinaire", a estimé jeudi le chef de la Marine américaine, qui a toutefois rappelé qu'un seul missile de croisière Tomahawk coûtait "1,5 million de dollars".

"Les chiffres ne sont pas extraordinaires à ce stade", a déclaré l'amiral Jonathan Greenert, chef d'état-major de l'US Navy, lors d'une intervention devant l'American Enterprise Institute, un groupe de réflexion conservateur de Washington.

Interrogé la veille lors d'une audition devant la Chambre des représentants américaine, le secrétaire à la Défense Chuck Hagel avait évoqué un coût de "plusieurs dizaines de millions de dollars".

La plupart des navires lance-missiles dans la zone "étaient là-bas de toute façon" dans le cadre de leur déploiement habituel, a expliqué l'amiral Greenert, mettant à part le cas du porte-avions Nimitz et des trois destroyers et du croiseur qui constituent son escorte.

Ce groupe aéronaval, qui devait rentrer aux Etats-Unis à l'issue d'un déploiement dans la région du Golfe, a été redirigé vers la mer Rouge.

Le coût hebdomadaire d'un destroyer en déploiement est de deux (BIEN deux) millions de dollars, celui d'un groupe aérien (les quelque 80 appareils que compte un porte-avions) de 25 millions de dollars pour des "opérations de routine", et de 40 millions en cas d'opérations soutenues.

Hormis l'éventuel recours à des frappes effectuées à l'aide de bombardiers furtifs B-2, le coût de frappes devrait donc essentiellement dépendre du nombre de missiles Tomahawk tirés par l'US Navy.

Ces missiles ont déjà été payés, il faudrait en revanche que la Marine les remplace à l'avenir s'ils étaient lancés.

Pour le seul premier jour de l'intervention en Libye, 110 Tomahawks avaient été tirés. La participation américaine à l'opération avait coûté au total un milliard de dollars.

Gordon Adams, spécialiste du budget de la défense, estime pour sa part dans Foreign Policy que le "surcoût" lié à des frappes en Syrie, notamment les primes pour les militaires impliqués ou la consommation de carburant, serait au maximum de "100 à 200 millions de dollars".

Ces chiffres ne prennent toutefois pas en compte le coût de remplacement des Tomahawks tirés.

Aug. 29, 2013 – Defense News

WASHINGTON — The US Navy has deployed a fifth destroyer to the eastern Mediterranean, a defense official told AFP on Thursday, as expectations grow of an imminent strike on Syria.

The Stout, a guided missile destroyer, is “in the Mediterranean, heading and moving east” to relieve the Mahan, said the official, who said both ships might remain in place for the time being.

Other destroyers in the region — the Ramage, the Barry and the Gravely — criss-cross the Mediterranean and could launch their Tomahawk missiles toward Syria if so directed by President Barack Obama.

The defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, did not say how long the Mahan would stay in the area before returning to its home port of Norfolk, Va., which it left in December.

It is normal for three destroyers to patrol the Mediterranean under the authority of the US Sixth Fleet, primarily in an anti-missile defense role.

The US Navy keeps as a closely guarded secret the number of Tomahawk missiles that each ship carries, but it is estimated to be 45.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Wednesday that US forces were ready to launch an attack, but Obama said he has not yet made a decision.

The US defense official also indicated that the aircraft carrier Nimitz and its escorts remain in the area of the US Fifth Fleet, which extends from the Red Sea to the Gulf and Arabian Sea.

The official added, however, that while the Nimitz is being held, “it is not linked to potential Syria options at this time.”

27 Aug 2013 By Ben Farmer, Defence Correspondent

The Armed Forces are drawing up contingency plans for action after a weekend of briefing from Downing Street that military intervention action may be imminent against Bashar al-Assad’s government. The most likely course of action according to most observers is a barrage of Tomahawk cruise missiles from warships in the Mediterranean, possibly with added air strikes from warplanes

In reality, plans for possible action against Bashar al-Assad’s regime have been drawn up for weeks, if not months at Permanent Joint Headquarters in Northwood, according to military sources.

What those plans need to include will depend on the extent and objective of the action to be taken, neither of which are yet clear. They must include not only what Britain, France and America will do, but also how Syria might respond.

The most likely course of action according to most observers is a barrage of Tomahawk cruise missiles from warships in the Mediterranean, possibly with added air strikes from warplanes.

These punitive, but largely symbolic strikes would be designed to show the Syrian government it cannot gas its own people with impunity, but would do little to change the overall picture in Syria.

Such a strike would need little planning. Both the Royal Navy and America are believed to have submarines in the area and the Mediterranean-based US Sixth Fleet also has four destroyers capable of firing missiles. Military sources said these are already armed and “good to go”.

Only last minute details would need to be clarified, including where the vessels would fire from in the Mediterranean’s congested waters and whose airspace the missiles would fly through.

British warplanes could reach Syria from the UK at a stretch, but sources said it would be “challenging” and they would need refuelling in mid-air. If needed, they would more likely be forward deployed to a base in the region such as RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus. Again this could be done quickly. Tornado or Typhoon jets are not currently in the region, but could be in Cyprus in hours.

More difficult to plan for would be the reaction of the Syrian regime. Commanders and politicians will want to make sure they are ready for possible retaliation. Syria has access to missiles and also links, through Iran, to militant groups capable of striking throughout the region. Security may be tightened and forces in the region put on higher alert.

If military intervention is more ambitious in scale, then the contingency plans become far more extensive. Then commanders must plan for sustaining military action, for feeding, fuelling and equipping a mission over a longer time.

15 novembre 2011 Par Rédacteur en chef. PORTAIL DES SOUS-MARINS

Le HMS Astute, le plus récent sous-marin nucléaire d’attaque de la Royal Navy, a tiré pour la 1ère fois des missiles Tomahawk dans les cieux américains dans le cadre de ses essais.

Le HMS Astute se trouve dans le golfe du Mexique pour y effectuer les premiers essais du système. Il pourra embarquer une combinaison de 38 missiles Tomahawk et torpilles Spearfish.

La Grande-Bretagne est le seul pays à qui les Etats-Unis fournissent la technologie Tomahawk.

Le HMS Astute va poursuivre ses essais aux Etats-Unis jusqu’au début du printemps, avant de rentrer en Grande-Bretagne pour son entraînement avant son premier déploiement opérationnel.

Référence : Royal Navy